OK, so its back to post revisitation time as I am now going to update one of my older posts on this blog and the one I have chosen to redo is Panic Room, David Fincher's thriller from 2002 (15 years ago already!) starring Jodie Foster, Forrest Whittaker and Jared Leto.
So after 15 years, how does Panic Room fair??? Well, let's take another look and find out...
And yes the usual warning is coming up....
PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
STORY
So, the story is set in New York City, and begins with Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her daughter Sarah (Kirsten Stewart) who have bought an expansive four story house in the upper west side. The previous occupant of the house was a millionaire reclusive who had a secure room built to prevent intruders from breaking in, called a "panic room". The "panic room" also has several surveillance cameras as well a thick steel door, concrete walls, and a PA communications system and a separate phone line.
During their first night in the house, it is broken into by Junior (Jared Leto) who is the grandson of the previous owner, who is joined by Burnham (Forrest Whittaker) an employee of the residence's security company, and also by Raoul (Dwight Yoakman) a gunman who conceals his face by wearing a ski mask. Junior soon realises that from the unpacked boxes that the Altmans have moved in and he manages to persuade Burnham to carry on with the job, as they intend to break into the panic room where there are 3 million dollars in bearer bonds locked in the vault.
However on having a sleepless night, Meg enters the panic room to shut the lights off and notices the three men on the surveillance cameras, and she wakes up Sarah and takes her into the panic room just before the men can get there. With no way into the panic room, Burnham comes up with an idea to get them out by using propane gas which he pumps through the vents. However Meg looking through the supplies in the room, finds a fire safety blanket as well as a lighter which she uses to ignite the gas, which in turn destroys the propane gas tank Burnham used, which also leaves Junior injured by the fire.
Meg in attempt to call for help finally manages to tap into the main telephone line and calls her ex-husband Stephen Altman (Patrick Bauchau) but Raoul cuts off the connection down in the basement before Meg can finish talking to him. After this Junior gives up on trying to find a way into the panic and room and decides to leave, but he let's slip that there is actually more money in the vault than he had let on. As a result of this Raoul shoots Junior dead and he forces Bunrham to help them get into the room, and not long after Stephen arrives, whom Raoul viciously beats up in an effort to force Meg out of the panic room. And this soon leads into the film's tense and dramatic climax where Meg must try and survive the ordeal and save Sarah and Stephen from the burglars...
THOUGHTS
Panic Room is a very solid example of a suspense thriller and it is really well put together by its director, David Fincher as he plays out the old tale of cat and mouse with the criminals breaking and entering into the house. Throughout the film there is a tense atmosphere and Fincher does an excellent job in building on the suspense slowly as the film progresses, starting from the burglars breaking into the house up until Meg's final showdown with them.
The film also of course builds on the strong vulnerable female character, Meg, who is put in a dangerous situation where she must protect her daughter. And with the burglars you get the juxtaposition of the three different characters, the young naive cocky upstart in Junior, the decent but troubled family man in Burnham, and the icy sociopath in Raoul. And the characters are well catered for in screenwriter David Koepp's screenplay, which is well written and despite the film's gloomy look and tone at times, his script is often humorous.
In the film, Fincher also uses a couple of recurring themes that he has used in his previous films, such as the reclusive millionaire, who was a "shut-in" which was one of the aspects of the plot in Seven and Fight Club of people who live in seclusion. Also in Koepp's screenplay he pokes fun at popular culture and how they can be ignorant of references to literature, as in Seven where Brad Pitt says reads the "Marqis De Sade" and says "Sade" as the name of the modern day singer. And in Panic Room the estate agent doesn't understand Meg's reference to the author Edgar Allan Poe as she says "have you ever read any Poe?" and the estate agent bluffs it by saying "no, but I loved her last album!".
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)
As for the performances, well they are all great as the cast are on top form here.
Starting with Jodie Foster, who is great as Meg Altman, a recent divorcee who finds herself in a crisis where she must take charge and find a way to fight against the robbers. Foster actually arrived on the production, replacing Nicole Kidman who was originally cast in the role but had to pull out due to an injury, but filming had to be delayed further again as Jodie Foster was pregnant at the time and they didn't resume filming until after she gave birth.
Foster has her share of good scenes in the film, such as the one where Meg and Sarah seal themselves in the panic room just after the robbers first try and break in. So, in the scene, Meg uses the room PA system to address the robbers. And Meg says to them "Excuse me! The police are on their way! I suggest you leave before you get here!" and Burnham signals on one of the security video cameras that they don't have a phone. So, Junior tries writing some messages on paper to communicate with them telling Meg what they want is in the panic room.
So, Meg asks them "What do you know about this room?" and Junior writes another note and holds it up and it reads "More than you". So, Meg says "We're not coming out and we're not letting you in! Get out of my house!" and Sarah then says "Say "fuck"" and Meg suddenly blurts out "You fuck!" over the PA. Sarah then says "Mom. "Get the fuck out of my house" and Meg then says through the PA "Get the fuck out of my house!". And as Junior writes another note and holds it up, which reads "We will let you go" Meg then says "Conversation's over!".
Then there is the scene where Meg tries to call the police and then her husband on the telephone after she manages to wire it up, leaving the robbers little choice but to race into the basement and try and cut the connection. So, Meg in the scene after failing to get anywhere with the police, calls her ex-husband, Stephen but she get's his partner instead (voiced by Nicole Kidman). "Put Stephen on the line" and the woman says "Do you know what time it is?" and Meg angrily insists "Put him on the phone, bitch!". So, Meg then speaks to Stephen and says "There are three men upstairs, they broke into..." but at this point, Raoul breaks the connection but smashing the main line in the basement with a sledgehammer.
Meg then desparately tells Sarah "He'll do something" and Sarah says "No, he won't" and Meg says "He'll call the police" but Sarah says "You don't know her, mom. She won't let him". However, Meg is insistant " No, he knows there is trouble. He heard me. He's right across the park. That's why we got houses so close to each other. Just in case we needed each other. He'll help us!" but Sarah says "No, he won't" and then Meg yells at her "YES HE WILL!!".
And last of all there is the scene where Meg tries to bluff the police, who turn up at her front door during the night after Stephen called them. So after one of the policemen, Officer Keeney (Paul Schulze) questions Meg over her phone call to Stephen that "there were three" and what was the end of that sentence, Meg awkwardly explains. So, Meg says "Look...My husband and I just split up...and it's my first night in a new house...and I admit I was a little drunk. And the sentence, if you INSIST on knowing...was going to be: "There are three things that I'll do for you if you come jump into bed with me." Thank God I came to my senses before I said all that, and I hung up so nobody would ever have to know what I was thinking! Unless, of course...two policemen came in the middle of the night and interrogated me". So, after an awkward pause, the other policeman asks his partner "So, Rick, do you want to go? Or do you want her to tell you which three things?!".
So, Rick then says to Meg that she could try blinking her eyes a few times to send a private signal to them to indicate that something is up. However Meg doesn't flinch and then smiles and says "Man...you guys are good! You mean, like if there was somebody in the house or something? They really train you guys!" and she smiles reassuringly "No, I'm fine. I'm fine. Cross my heart" and Rick finally says "Sorry to disturb you, ma'am" and they finally leave.
Forrest Whittaker is also excellent in his role as Burnham, who is a essentially a decent family man with financial troubles of his own and he reluctantly takes on his burglar role in breaking into the panic room.
Forrest also has his share of good scenes that include the one where after Burnham, Junior and Raoul fail to break into the panic room decide what to do next. And Burnham in the scene sits down and smiles to himself and says "I spent the last 12 years building these rooms...to keep out people like us!". And Junior not amused says "Oh its all so ironic and amusing. Now, how do we get in?" and Burnham tells him "We can't. You can't get in the panic room. That's the whole point. We have to get her out to come out". Junior then asks "And why would she do that?" and Burnham says "I don't know. But when she does, she can't get out of this house. We keep her here, we keep her quiet for 20 minutes..." and Burnham points to Raoul and says "....and I don't want any help from Joe Pesci over here!".
Then there is the scene where Burnham and Raoul catch out Junior on a lie when he unintenionally reveals there is actually alot more money in the panic room then he let on. So, Burnham asks Junior "Say what you just said again?" and Raoul intimidatingly says "Say that shit about the money again, babycakes!" and Junior then nervously says "What bbbefore?" and Raoul mocks him and says "Yeah bbbefore!". Burnham then says "Splitting the money in your head, you said you'd put away 800 or 900 grand. That was after tax, which makes it more than a million and a half gross!".
So as Burnham continues to press Raoul on how much money there is, Junior finally admits "Fine, there's more" and Burnham asks him "And when were you going to tell us about this minor economic detail?" and Junior angrily says "It doesn't matter now! Its totally fucking moot!". And Burnham angrily then says to Junior "Did you think that I'd open that safe...and then me and Raoul would wait while you picked out your share?! What the fuck is the matter with you?! You got us into this mess, and you were going to fuck us?!". And as Junior uses a drill to take out the screws that Burnham used to secure the front door open, Burnham threatens Junior "I will split the money with Raoul. But I don't ever want to see you again. Cops show up on my doorstep, we will know who sent them...and we will fucking find you!".
Then there is the scene where Burnham and Raoul finally get into the panic room where Sarah is trapped in with them, who due to her diabetes, desparately needs an injection. So, Burnham prepares the needle with insulin and says to Sarah "Nice house you guys got. Mum's rich?" and Sarah weakly says "Dad's rich. Mum's just mad". And as Burnham gives Sarah the injection he says to her "I wish I could put my kid in a place like this. Not that I didn't try. Just sometimes things they don't work out the way you want them to. Wasn't supposed to be like this. You weren't supposed to be here". So, after Burnham says "Done!" and Sarah gives a weak smile and says "Thank you...Burnham" and Burnham packs up the needle back into the insulin kit and says "Wasn't supposed to be like this!" he throws the pack into the corner.
WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH IS A BIG SPOILER!
And last of all is the climactic scene where Meg, Sarah and Stephen both fight against a psychotic Raoul, who is about to kill Meg with a sledgehammer. And as Burnham is outside, he hears the screams and just before Raoul brings the sledgehammer down on Meg, Stephen desparately clambers for Raoul's gun but then we see another pair of hands pick it up. Then we suddenly see Raoul has been shot through the eye and he falls down dead over Meg and its revealed that Burnham is the one who killed Raoul. Burnham says to Meg and Sarah "You'll be okay now" and he puts the gun down and leaves only to be arrested moments later by the police, who storm the place.
Jared Leto is great in his role as the not so bright and hotheaded, Junior, who is the "mastermind" behind the panic room burglary, but in his plan he failed to take into account that the Altmans would move in early!
Leto has plenty of good moments in the film, such as his first main scene where Junior, Burnham and Raoul break into the house and tries to pesuade Burnham to go ahead with the robbery despite the fact that Meg and Sarah are there.
So, Junior says to Burnham of his blunder about Meg and Sarah moving in "14-day escrow! They should not be in for another week!". But Burnham asks "Exactly how is 14 days three weeks?!" and Junios says "Business days. Escrow is always business days. Five-day weeks always!" but then he suddenly seems unusre and asks "Right?". And as Burnham is about to walk, Junior tries to persuade him to stay "Just wait a minute. Wait a minute! We can handle this" and he asks Raoul "Can we still handle this?". Raoul asks "Is it just a woman and a kid?" and Burnham says "Unless daddy comes home" but Junior tells him "He's not. They're divorcing. Daddy's banging some B model on the Upper East Side. It's just her and the kid!" and he turns to Raoul and asks "Now, can we do this?!" and Raoul says "Yeah, we can do it".
Junior then says to Burnham "It's all fucked up. I fucked it up! It's not how it's supposed to be. But the fact of the matter is there's still $3,000,000 in this house...and no one but you and I even knows it's here. Hey, I want that money. I want it! But you...you need that money. Or have you forgotten why you're here? So let's quit dicking around, okay, and get this over with". So, Burnham finally gives in and says "Kill the phones".
Then there is the scene where Junior uses a series of written notes to communicate with Meg and Sarah in the panic room about what they want. And as Meg addresses them over the PA saying the police are on the way, Burnham says "She's lying" and Junior then shouts out to Meg "You're full of....". And we cut to the panic room where Meg and Sarah see Junior on camera but there is no audio and Burnham tells Junior "Its not an intercom. Its a PA system" and Junior to cover up his blunder says "I know. I'm just scaring her". So, after Junior fails to get over his points via the notes, he then says "Okay, I have an idea. She's a woman. Women need security". So, Junior writes another note and holds it up and he says "She needs to know she's dealing with decent people and she can trust us". So, Junior holds up the note which reads "WE WILL LET YOU GO" but Meg says over the PA "Conversation's over!" and Junior angrily throws away the paper.
Then there is the scene where Burnham rigs a propane gas tank through the wall to release gas into the panic room in an effort to force Meg and Sarah to come out. And in the scene, Junior argues with Burnham and Raoul, as Burnham wants the gas cut back, so that Meg and Sarah aren't hurt by it whereas Raoul wants to keep the gas going.
And as Burnham says he is concerned that Meg and Sarah could die if they keep the gas going, Junior says "Nobody is going to die, man! Will you please have the balls to follow through with something?!". Junior then says "The worst that will happen is, they'll pass out and have a hangover" and Burnham asks "HOW are we going to get in there if they pass out, Junior?" and Junior finally relents and turns to Raoul and says "Cut it back a little". However Raoul refuses to and says "They won't pass out, numb-nuts. They'll throw up first!" and Junior shouts at Raoul "He's right! We can't get in there if they're dead!". And as they continue to argue, Junior shouts at Burnham and Raoul "Shut the fuck up there are people trying to sleep over there!".
Then as Meg starts to try and use a gas click lighter to start a fire in an effort to destroy the propane tank, it does so and causes the tank spectacularly explode, sending flames everywhere that even set Junior on fire, burning his arm and side of his face. And after Burnham puts out Junior's flames, an enraged Junior stands up and yells at the camera toward Meg "YOU FUCKING BITCH!!! YOU FUCKING BITCH!!! I'M COMING IN THERE!!!!!!!!".
Lastly there is the scene where Junior finally gives up on their efforts to break into the panic room and he is about to leave but before he does he accidentally gives away that there is more money in the room than he had let on to Burnham and Raoul. So in the scene, Junior resignedly says "There's no way we are getting into that room" and Burnham asks him "What are you talking about?" and Junior says "I just got to be honest with myself here. I don't need to be involved...with anything so harrowing or perilous at this point in my life". Burnham, bemused then asks "You're giving up?" and Junior says "Hell, yes! I don't need the fucking aggravation. I'll make an anonymous phone call. They'll find the floor safe. I'll inherit".
Then as Junior let's slip about the money, Burnham quizzes him on it and Junior finally admits "OK there's more" and Burnham sarcastically asks "When were you gonna tell us about this minor economic detail?" and Junior, irritated says "It doesn't matter now. Its totally fucking moot!". And as Burnham presses Junior more on the money, Junior says "You got yourself into this. You got the custody lawyers up your ass. Your eyes were huge when I told you about the gig...so don't play innocent. Things didn't work out. Play past it".
WARNING: BIG SPOILER COMING UP IN THIS PARAGRAPH!
And as Junior uses a drill to remove a nail from the front door, Burnham tells Junior "I'm opening that safe. You leave, you get nothing" and Junior says "Its looking doutbful there, big guy!". Burnham then warns Junior "I will split the money with Raoul. But I don't ever want to see you again. Cops show up on my doorstep, we will know who sent them...and we will fucking find you!". Junior then opens the front door and says "Later, Burnham. See you...Raoul!" but before he can leave, Raoul suddenly raises his silenced gun and shoots Junior in the head.
Kirsten Stewart is very good in her role as Sarah, Meg's diabetic daughter, who is quite feisty and shows a great deal of resolve and intelligence in the film as she and Meg are forced to deal with the robbers, who break into their new home.
And Kirsten has her own share of good scenes such as the one at the start where two estate agents walk with Meg and Sarah along the pavements in New York. And as Sarah rides her scooter, Meg irritably asks her "Sarah, do you have to ride that here?" and Sarah tells her "Mom, we're in the street!".
Then there is the scene where on the night Meg and Sarah have moved in, they sit and share a pizza as Meg pours Sarah a coke. And Meg asks Sarah, who eats her pizza "Do you mind the pizza?" and Sarah asks "What do you mean?" and Meg says "Our first night. I should have thought of something special" and Meg, not fazed says "I like pizza". Then after an awkward silence, Sarah refers to Meg's divorced husband "Fuck him" and Sarah says "Don't" and Sarah then says "Fuck her, too!" and Meg says "I agree...but don't!".
Then there is the scene where Meg tries to call Stephen to tell him about the robbers but their call is cut off after Raoul severs the main line connection. Meg then desparately says to Sarah "He'll do something" and Sarah says "No, he won't" and Meg says "He'll call the police" but Sarah says "You don't know her, mom. She won't let him". However, Meg is insistant " No, he knows there is trouble. He heard me. He's right across the park. That's why we got houses so close to each other. Just in case we needed each other. He'll help us!" but Sarah says "No, he won't" and then Meg yells at her "YES HE WILL!!". Meg then says sorry and Sarah says "No, I'm sorry" and Meg asks "Why?" and Sarah tells her "I was trying not to tell you" and Meg asks "What?" and Sarah tells her "I'm dizzy and hungry".
And last of all there is the scene where Burnham gives Sarah an injection when he and Raoul have made it into the panic room. And Burnham says to Sarah "Its a nice place you've got here. Mom rich?" and Sarah weakly says "Dad's rich, mum's just mad". And after Burnham gives Sarah the injection, she looks at him and notices his name is written on his work overalls and she weakly says "Thank you...Burnham".
Dwight Yoakam is also excellent and not to mention really creepy in his role as the soft spoken but also sociopathic burglar, Raoul, who for the most part of the film wears a ski-mask to conceal his identity.
And Yoakham also his moments in the film such as the one in his first scene where Junior introduces Raoul and Junior also tries to persuade Brunham to go ahead with the burglary. So, Junior asks Raoul "Can we do this?" and Raoul asks "Is it just the woman and a kid?" and Junior then says that Meg is now divorced from her husband, so Junior asks him again "Can we do this?" and Raoul says "Yeah, we can do it". But then Burnham asks re: Meg "What about us? What if he she has a gun?" and at this point, Raoul pulls out his gun with an attached silencer, prompting Burnham to look at him with disgust and ask "Who ARE you?" and Raoul simply says "I'm Raoul".
Then there is the scene where after the men fail to break into the panic room and the gas propane tank idea also literally goes down in flames, Raoul decides to have a private chat with Junior over the money situation. So, Raoul says to him "There's been a change here. $100,000 is not enough. Not for this shit. I want a third of whatever's in that room up there". Junior looks annoyed but then relents and says "Fine! Okay? Full share, one-third. Congratulations. You bought a ski mask, made $1,000,000. Your parents will be proud!". Raoul then warns Junior over Burnham attempting to stop him from turning off the propane gas and he says "If he touches me again, I'll shoot him!".
And as Junior finally has had enough of Raoul's complaints, he says "Any other schoolyard bullshit to settle, or can we get back to work?!" and Raoul angrily warns Junior "Don't take no tone with me, jerk-wad. I'll shove it up your ass and snap it off!". And Junior angrily says "You're a bus driver, Raoul. You live in Flatbush. Don't spout some Elmore Leonard bullshit you just heard...because I saw that movie, too!".
Then there is the scene where Junior attempts to leave the house but (SPOILER!!!!!) Raoul instead shoots Junior dead, much to Burnham's shock and surprise (and indeed Meg and Sarah's). Raoul then drags Junior's body into the living room and says to him "Ride in a Town Car to 125th Street a couple of times...think you know all about it. You don't know nothing about me!" and he shoots Junior in the head again. And afterward, Raoul walks over to Burnham, who looks shocked and Raoul says to him "You should see the look on your face!".
However, Stephen Altman then shows up at the front door to check on Meg and Sarah and Raoul grabs him and hits in the face with his gun, sending Stephen to the floor. And as he does, Burnham protests and says "Stop it, you fucking..." and Raoul points his gun right at him and says "Fucking what?! Clown? Idiot? Fucking asshole? Who's the clown now?" and he brings the gun to Burnham's face and Burnham nervously says "Me!" and Raoul says "That's right". Then he says to Burnham re: Stephen "Find out who the fuck that is!" and Burnham takes Stephen's wallet and notices that his surname is the same as the one wirtten on Meg's boxes.
So, Burnham then asks Stephen "Did you give your wife a call, Stephen?" and Stephen nods and Burnham asks "What did she say?" and he says "Don't know, cut off...". Raoul then moves forward and points his gun at Stephen and says "Did you call anyone else? Did you call the fucking cops, Stephen?!" and Stephen shakes his head and says "No". Burnham then says "He's telling the truth" and Raoul relents a little and says "Yeah, he probably is. Because when I do this..." he points his gun "...people don't lie!".
You got yourself into this. You got the custody lawyers up your ass. Your eyes were huge when I told you about the gig... ...so don't play innocent. Things didn't work out. Play past it. Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=pa
Dwight Yoakam is also quite creepy in his role as the wiry, soft spoken sociopath Raoul, who provides the film with a surprise twist when he suddenly turns around kills Junior with his gun. Yoakam also get's some fine lines, particularly in the scene where he argues with Junior over the money and he says to Junior "don't take that tone with me, jerkwad, or I'll shove it up your ass and snap it off!" and later "say that shit about the money again, baby cakes!". Also in the scene where he is introduced by Junior to Burnham, Raoul shows his gun to Burnham who looks at him with disgust and says "Who are you?!" and he Raoul calmly replies "I'm Raoul". Yoakam also has an amusing moment where they first try to run upstairs to get into the panic room, as Meg and Sarah shut the door just time, and Junior goes bananas battering the door, and he smashes the glass mirror on another door, which Raoul looks on and says to Junior "that's seven years bad luck". In other performances Kirsten Stewart is really good as Meg's diabetic daughter Sarah, who is quite a feisty character and at the start of the film she rides her scooter all over the house when they are shown it by the estate agents. Stewart is provided with some funny smart-ass dialogue for the precocious character she plays, especially in the opening scene where she rides on her scooter on the pavement while Meg talks to the estate agent, and Meg asks "Sarah do you have to ride that here?" and Sarah says "Mom, we're in the street!". Stewart has another great line where she lies in the panic room, with Burnham and Raoul who finally get in at this point and Burnham says "Nice house you guys have got. Mom's rich?" and Sarah weakly replies "Dad's rich. Mom's just mad!". And lastly I'll mention Stephen Bauchau who is somewhat underused in the film as Meg's ex-husband, but he does a decent enough job with his role, although he is mainly in it to be used just as a punching bag for Raoul!
And last of all there is the scene where Burnham and Raoul make it into the panic room as their ruse proves successful in doing so, however in a skuffle with Meg, Raoul ends up with his hand trapped in the panic room sliding door. So, after Burnham tells Meg to go downstairs and he will then give Sarah an insulin injection, Meg goes down with the gun and looks up to the camer and mouths "Fuck you!!". So, Burnham then opens the door to release Raoul's injured hand (as two of his finger tips have been severed by the door!).
And Raoul angrily addresses Meg on the PA system and yells "YOU FUCKING BITCH!!! You pull ANY shit like that again, I will fucking kill her! Do you hear me?!! If you step outside, I'll kill her! If I see a uniform inside this house, I'll cut her fucking throat! Do you understand?!!". And Meg tells Raoul that she understands and pleads with them to give Sarah her injection.
Oh, and last last of all is the scene is where Raoul (now without his ski mask on) looks to Sarah and says to Burnham "This kid has seen my face". Burnham says "Yeah, well, that's not my problem" and Raoul says "Yeah, it is. You're here with me. You're on the hook too" and he glares at Sarah and says "Do one. Same price for the rest" and Burnham looks at Raoul in disgust and says "Stay the fuck away from me!".
Patrick Bauchau next is also pretty good in his role as Meg's ex-husband, Stephen Altman, who turns up later at Meg's house after her call to him was cut off. However, Bauchau doesn't have that big a role here and his dialogue is fairly minimal, so I won't really bother quoting any of his scenes. Well, OK I will quote the one scene where the cops turn up at Meg's front door and Meg, alarmed asks "Did you call the cops??" and Stephen says "Of course I called them! You scared the shit out of me!".
And last of all are Ann Magnuson and Ian Buchanan as the estate agents, Lydia Linch and Evan Kurlander. And Ann get's the best lines of the two of them in her main scene where Lydia and Evan shows Meg and Sarah the house with the panic room. And Lydia basically keeps telling off Sarah when she rides her scooter and uses the elevator without permission in the house and she yells "Kid, no elevator!" and "Kid, no scooter!". And of course Ann get's one of the best lines in the film when Meg asks her "Have you ever read any Poe?" meaning Edgar Allan Poe but Lydia fails to get her meaning and simply says "No, but I loved her last album!".
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
Direction wise, David Fincher does a fine job here and he paces the film well as it slowly builds into its dramatic climax. Fincher also makes good use of CGI at times to make it look like the camera runs continuously through the house in one fluid action, and this put to great use in the scene when the burglars arrive at the house, and the camera zooms through the door lock as one of them tries to open it and the camera zooms out again. Fincher also again employed the use of digital colour correction like he did with Fight Club, which gives the film its green tint (also like in The Matrix).
As for the music score its a very good one composed by Howard Shore, who once again provides the soundtrack for Fincher (as he did before for his previous films Seven and The Game). And here Shore creates plenty of suspenseful dramatic passages of music, as well as a very ambient and atmospheric title theme. In fact there are times where the score resembles the music of Bernard Herrmann back in his heyday of Hitchcock's suspense thrillers and its almost safe to say that this score seems to pay homage to them. Overall, its certainly a strong one from Howard Shore.
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for the flaws??? Well, yes OK, Panic Room isn't quite perfect.
The main problem is to do with the film's climax in that it becomes pretty over the top in the end and all the credibility starts to fly out the window. For starters why would Meg bother even trying to use her husband, Stephen, who at this point can barely move, as Raoul had beaten him up so much, to try and hold a gun in waiting for when Raoul and Burnham will come back downstairs. As no doubt Stephen could be easily disarmed as he can hardly move at that point in the film at all, and Meg even has to use a table lamp to prop his arms up enough to use the gun.
Then there is the whole scene with the cops at the door and while it remains one of the film's most amusing scenes its also one of the daftest as well. This is because the police officer in question, Keeney (played by Paul Schulze) is basically spelling out to the audience while talking to Meg "give us a sign that something is not quite right in there!" in such a not-so-sutble way. And the best way to do this is by saying stupid things like "If there is something you wan't to tell us, but you don't want to say, you could try blinking your eyes. That might be something you could do safely". I mean come on! Talk about patronising the audience or what????!
Its also worth noting further to this point that the cops in this scene aren't too observant as you can actually clearly see that Meg's hand has been scolded after she used the gas fire clicker to ignite the propane gas. Yet somehow these cops certainly don't really notice it at all! So, in the end it was more to do with officer Keeney's curiosity that lead the police to come back to the scene (or so it would appear!) than anything else!
There are also times where Fincher seems to use CGI a little too much in the film such as in the scene where Sarah uses the flashlight and points through one of the gutter pipes to try and attract the attention of an occupant of the flats across the road from them. And the camera zooms right into the bulb of the flashlight itself, which just appears a bit daft and an unecessary use of CGI in general.
The film is also guilty of a few thriller cliches that you often come to expect in these types of films. And two examples I can think of are first off, the whole idea of the protagonists and the antagonists being clumsy in attracting attention. For the first example, as the burglars try to slowly creep their way up the stairs, Junior accidentally bumps into a football, which alerts Meg. Then later, Meg does the same thing as she observes that the burglars have left the room outside the panic room and gone downstairs to have a private discussion. However, as Meg scrambles out quickly to get her mobile phone, she reaches for it underneath the mattress and her efforts cause a table lamp to fall down and the bulb smashes, which alerts the burglars attention!
And last of all is the whole idea of Burnham supposedly hearing Sarah's screams over the noise of the howling wind outside, as I'd imagine in reality that he would have found it difficult to have heard them. Not only that but the time it might have taken for Burnham to get back up there in time, Meg would realistically speaking have been dead by the time Burnham got there. However thankfully for Meg, Burnham does and well...I won't say anymore than that!
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up after 15 years, Panic Room still remains a very entertaining suspense thriller with a very solid cast, who all give excellent performances, particularly the main leads of Foster, Whittaker, Leto and Yoakam aswelll as Kirsten Stewart. The film is also surprisingly witty and funny for such a dark toned thriller as David Koepp's script will often provide a chuckle or three, although it has to be said that Jared Leto is comedy gold in this film regardless of the script!
And despite any of its flaws, Panic Room is still well worth a look 15 years on.
Right, so that's it for now and I will be back again some with yet another post.
Till the next one, its bye for now!
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